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Hm, it seems it's a custom to open a new topic here, so why not :Banane11:

I finally got my riding licence a year ago, and I purchased my first motorized vehicle as soon as I could (paperwork took 4 weeks or so). It was my long plan, because I moved to Budapest (to live together with my girlfriend, her workplace is here) but my workplace still remained where it was, 60km away. So I had to get *something* to commute. Something with good fuel economy, I decided. I would have liked to feel less guilty for burning the diminishing oil reserves and polluting the air of our only planet... a motorcycle seemed to be a good idea. Uncomfortabl at winter, but then I can retain my old living style, staying at Székesfehérvár (@ my mother's place) on workdays and catch a bus to get back home... which would be impossible daily (12 hours work + 5 hours travel+walk, no bus at dawn, etc...).
So Teresa's here. A silver BMW F650CS with ABS. Nice bike, catched my eyes, sufficient power for freeway rides (I feel that 50HP plenty, but I'm a conservative rider to begin with), and hopefully not bad FE (read: better than just about anything I could get and stronger than a 125cc), EFI and 3-way catalytic converter, must be pretty clean... I named her after a character in an anime series, that Teresa is a Claymore warrior, half human, half monster, superhuman strength and speed (check), silver eyes and outfit (check), run and fight on a diet of 2 apples per week (hoped to check).

I started my driving 'carreer' with her, at the age of 29.
Began conservatively. FE always floating before my eyes I never understood red light racers and notorious speeders in general. I started with keeping the speed limits, going with trucks in the rightmost lane on the freeway to work (they're allowed to go at 80 km/h here so they usually do 90-100), with some hint of driving without brakes and nice-on coasting in the stop&crawl situations - these felt natural to me, just like not to speed up for short distances, accelerating lightly and using the highest possible gear. And not idling in vain, of course. And to continue to use my feet for short, few km distances. Just some (un?)common sense.

But lately I got more into this *miling game, as I always was curious how far can I go with this small tank of Teresa's, how efficiently can I ride her. In the early months I was getting 3.2l/100km or so, which I didn't find bad, but my perfectionist self was constantly wispering in my ear to get better at it. It's not impossible, after all! The next oil crisis is nigh, prices may skyrocket any year, we'll probably get gas in limited amounts for tickets soon... and something in me made the approaching apocalypse a game :Banane09: Yeah, I'm a split personality. No problem, being efficient at riding can't make any harm...

After getting her in a better shape (and getting her back with somewhat overinflated tires and seeing that it may be good) in the spring I began to hone my *miling skills too. I found FE pages and forums and learned techniques. I started with DWL, but I'm almost out of it by now as I lowered my cruising speed - I ride ~45-50mph when I can, ~45 being the 'floor' of 5th gear of Teresa I can't really get slower uphills.

The enlightement reached me at the GasSavers forum.
I can't get slower, but I can get faster! If I do the opposite of DWL and just let her roll down the other side of the hill, I'm doing something like P&G... then it became real P&G because I lost speed too quickly even downhills. I indulged in hypermiling, I got to the point where my most used 'braking' method is nice-on coasting, followed by DFCO... I'm trying to anticipate as much as I can, brakes are only for the unforeseen and for complete stop. That's why they're there after all, not to senselessly waste precious energy... I even got brave enough to do some FAS, not just at long stop lights. Good that bikes have kill switches by default...
I'm afraid I can't be saved. Fellow bikers just won't understand my riding style. I'm longing for the day when I'll do these coasting manuveurs on hilly backroads so transparently that I can enjoy the view undisturbedly again. That was my other reason to get a bike, after all... to go on tours, enjoy the countryside flowing backward around me, and to get where I couldn't get before... which is pure joy. But I think I can manage soon ;)

Technical stuff later, I suppose. I have questions about air drag vs gears, for example. And air drag vs windshield size/angle. We have another bike, Ciliegia, its mileage log is still not here, it's a Hyosung GV250, I should get even better results with it, but I just can't. But save it for later.

And, for the last, a pretty deceptive picture - I'm not with my girlfriend here (she HATES to be photographed!), but a fellow cosplayer (she played Kana/Haibane Renmei back then) at the last SakuraCon at Budapest. Just to show myself at my best, dressed up like an anime character :D

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/632/Three_deaths_by_alvaro84.jpg

Welcome to CleanMPG and great introduction!

One of these days I'm going to get my motorcycle licence!

A site that might interest you: http://www.craigvetter.com/pages/470MPG/470MPG%20Main.html

Welcome to CleanMPG and great introduction!

One of these days I'm going to get my motorcycle licence!

Thanks, best wishes for the future riding :)
On a sidenote, I don't have a licence for cars and I feel that I don't need any (yet?), but if someone wanted to give me one, I'd most probably choose an Insight. A red one, I think. I'm curious what could I achieve with a hybrid.

Hm, next thing on my todo list: a sig. I made a complete, long gaslog for Teresa, I just have to link that cute little picture. And I don't know what the heck that 'elite' status is, but it's not bad for ego boosting :D

On a 5-speed Insight (in l/100km)


4.7 starting out
2.04 on my best run
3.1-2.8 typically

Welcome to CleanMPG! Interesting pic and thanks for the description.

On a 5-speed Insight (in l/100km)

4.7 starting out
2.04 on my best run
3.1-2.8 typically

Hmmm... that best run looks delicious... and those streamlined things look pretty uncomfortable and I don't even know how to stop with such a... 2-wheeled... car? aeroplane? without falling :eek: I'm planning to play a bit with the windshields. Ciliegia has a much larger one, I'm pretty sure that it contributes in the worse FE (I think that 250cc V-twin has the potential to perform better than the 650cc single).
Teresa's windshield is pretty streamline-shaped... and it directs the wind right on my helmet making it pretty noisy at higher speeds :D Seems to work pretty good though, I can't high-speed coast much better when I totally hide behind it (but I don't see the mirrors so I quit doing so). My hands are out in the 'storm', though, the handlebar is pretty wide, and I can't do much to it. The riding position is pretty comfortable on a CS.

But at least, lately I tiptoe on the footopegs on highways to keep my feet out of the wind while holding Teresa's 'waist' tight with my knees to decrease the frontal area by a little bit (she's has pretty slim figure for a 650 - looks like a child next to a V-Strom :D). And I'm happy that I'm not fat nor tall... but I don't know how much it helps, I may go too slow to begin with (rarely exceed 90km/h(~56mph) lately but I cruise/coast under 80(<50mph) much more) :D Still, coasting over ~60km/h I rapidly lose speed so it may count a little :eyebrow:

Now I entered some mileage data in the 'EPA' fields, though F650s don't really have that. BMW specifies fuel consumption rate at 90km/h and 120km/h. However, their average reflects pretty good what an 'average' F650 rider usually gets, or something similar. I don't know anything better for the time being...
Now I'm only 'skilled', but at least it shows in my sig :D Interesting that I had to enter everything else in l/100km, but when I did the same with EPA fields my sig showed some 1800% (while displaying the MPG rates correctly!). So I had to enter the FE data in MPG :D

Hm. I'll have to look into that. I must have missed that field when I combed through the conversion routines last time.

and now I'm here too... I don't want to open an own topic now, I don't even have a driving licence (I hope it will change in a few weeks).
but I have a nice little motorbike with good FE. Alvaro wrote about her.

We have another bike, Ciliegia, its mileage log is still not here, it's a Hyosung GV250, I should get even better results with I, but I just can't.
he can't do that anymore unless for short periods when Teresa needs service.
because Ciliegia is MINE and I will ride her soon...

I must came because I wanted to write to the "you know you're a hypermiler if..." topic :p

hypermiling is fun, I surely will use some technics just because it's logical (why to waste power unnecessarily? I dislike wasting resources... all kind of them. and I don't like to wait a lot before the traffic lights and gliding is fun...etc.), but... I don't think I wish to go slowly on the highway... (Alvaro is slower than trucks. he drafts them only when he wants to ride fast on the highway, in his own tempo he got better mpg results :p not a typical young motorbike user...)

oh and hypermiling is logical and understandable. I had no difficulties with the terminology and the reason behind them. so I know enough about it and when I was on Teresa in the back seat (I hate that. I dunno how girls are able to sit behind someone and not ride their own bikes... well I wanted to get my own licence anyway), I noticed which methods Alvaro used and it was fun.

hi people, I'll be around from now on.

Hi shiNIN,
It's very nice to see you and alvaro84 on here. Now we now there are at least 2 hypermilers in Hungary!
Do others practice hypermiling there also?

I don't know about other hypermilers here... on forums we frequent people usually don't give a damn about FE and some even look down someone who rides slowly his/her bike... I don't know why. there are different kind of people, why to be intolerant? we won't ride our bikes as we like ignoring the traffic, of course...
but here's every rider is so wild and cool and fast, who cares speed limits...
and because of the most crazy hot headed ones who put themselves and others in danger, bike riders are somewhat unfamous and many think of death when hears about motorbike riding. in this country it's a more dangerous hobby than in contries with a higher driving moral (sorry if my too bad English comes into the way), but if someone rides in a mature, cautious, vigilant way, it must be much safer. and with time we become more and more skilled.
as for me, I try to avoid our overcrowded capital... I rarely will need to cross it, I prefer pleasant cruising through nice lands... I bought my bike for touring. my workplace is only 4 miles from my place (a little too much though) and I have healthy legs... I would consider riding, at least now and then if I didn't fear my dear Ciliegia would be stolen from the street.
how rotten thing, stealing a motorbike... but it happens so often.

Motorcyclists in the USA also get a bad reputation at times. I haven't read anything about roads in Hungary or driving conditions. I have cousins from near Udine, Italy and he has told me of Slovenia/northern Italy driving which is probably similiar.

we will check slovenian highways soon after I will got my license...

we met some horrible roads in this country (even not important roads should be better, but there wasn't money or attention for those). freeways are usually very nice as they should be, though there are at least one with too narrow lanes.
some roads of the capital has quality problems too. and it's so sweet when a road with a considerable traffic is an extreme narrow (one proper lane) one with pebbles on it... it may be rare but there's one near to our place.
some country has it far worse, I know.

Yup, poor Teresa needs service. I'll take her to the mechanic on Friday. Until then I save lot of gas because I just stay in the same town as my workplace, don't go home, just ride my bicycle and walk between my workplace and my mother's place (no ICE for a 4.5km (<3 mile) distance, of course)...

I'm a bit disappointed, we had a trip to Ajkarendek last weekend and in the first segment it looked like I can keep up my FE even 2-up and packed... but now the clutch is pretty much dead, it just doesn't release no matter how strong I hold it or how much I adjust it... I have to investigate if it's in connection with the coasting I do recently, I hope not and it would be way too soon, I've been doing it for only the last 2000km or so... if it's caused by the coasting, then well, I won't be happy and have to consider some kind of mods to take care of this problem...

Update (~10000kms in my mileage log since my last post in this topic):

- I refined P&G style travel with Teresa, once I even got 2.38l/100km, but I don't use heavy P&G lately. For some reason I feel that doing it constantly is not that good idea. I'm sticking to NICE-On coasting when I want to lose speed and often FAS before stops.
- Got a long, snowy winter, couldn't get regularly back on bike until mid-march... not too typical in Hungary lately. My average was clearly better than last winter period, though.
- We moved to a village (Vértesacsa), making my commute significantly shorter. It's now 25-27 km one way instead of 60-62. And it's a nice twisty road, not that boring freeway - I don't need P&G to keep me awake after night shifts and it's better to concentrate on the road (and the critters...) instead of the instrument panel... it seems that I CAN maintain under 3l/100km at the 'bottom of 5th' (70-80km/h), seasoned with some coasting and 4th gear in the villages/town.
- Teresa has new tires and new drive belt - fuel cost looks almost negligible compared to general maintenance...
- Got better with Ciliegia (Hyosung GV250) too, highway P&G is kind of unusable with her, going slower is welcome. Could get under 3l/100km (even 2-up) when we rode much on wavy backroads at 50-60km/h...
- Recent long distance trips with freeways made my average worse. 130km/h is way too much to be really efficient, I know... even though it's not compulsory to go that fast, we were tired (with a VERY good, erm, BAD reason) those trips and wanted to get home. Sorry, Earth, we'll have a few more of these in the upcoming months :(
- And I skipped the 48-hour castle tour, for the very same reason :( The 'winner' (in my eyes) rode another F650, a GS, and got a 3.08l/100km average. I could have beat him!

And some good news too: some of us formed a whole Touhou division at the last SakuraCon at Budapest. It was my first time really cosplaying a female character :Banane09:
So more freak images for you all:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/Con/Sakuracon2010/TH2010S.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/Con/Sakuracon2010/Useless.jpg

For a moment I saw just one rabbit ear and was reminded of this comic strip

http://furfag.com/z/files/wepledgetoyouzappa_580.jpg

For a moment I saw just one rabbit ear...

I've been watching your sig for a while - did you know that Mima is also a Touhou character? :D

Doesn't look like you have gained youkai yet. :eek:

Yesterday's news: I felt an impulse to experiment with E85. It was not that sudden, I've been thinking about since day one, but had doubts about it.
So yesterday back from work I visited the next Agip station close to my workplace (many of their gas stations have E85 lately) and filled 5l of it and 2.5l of the normal 95 gasoline. Counting the leftover of my last tank, now I had ~50% E85 (and ~50% ~E5, to be precise).

Well, Teresa is not an alcoholist. She hated the mixture so much that the engine kept stalling... I turned back and filled 5l more 95 gas. Now it's one third of E85 and she does not stall anymore but needs load not to surge... time for some P&G...
And I won't experiment with E85 anymore. Not without extra electronics, at least (and I'm not that eager to buy any, those are pretty expensive). I'm a bit curious what kind of average I can get out of this much ethanol, but next time I'll fill the usual carrera95 at my usual station...

edit: what's the problem with my youkainess? :confused:

Is your bike spec'd to take E85?? :eek: I hope you don't do any damage. :(

I'm not really afraid of this one tank of ~30% ethanol. I'll do more P&G because surging is not fun and can't be good for anything. But the components and materials should handle even pure E85, even if she's not a flex-fuel vehicle by design. After 2000 it's normal to have alcohol content in gasoline so AFAIK every single vehicle since then is designed with at least a bit of ethanol in mind (umm... I'm not saying they're drunk when design them :D ). It's just a bigger bit. May not be that good, but she'll endure it - she's a tough pro anyway ;)

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/link/aye_boss.jpg

Lately quite a few are trying E85 here in Hungary - even one of my colleagues. He's riding a Honda Varadero that has considerably bigger appetite than an F650 and went for the cheaper E85 because of it. He re-jetted his Varadero though and uses straight E85.

Well, I got rid of that alcoholic concoction (and 2 more tanks of the normal 95 octane - these are RON numbers) and using gasoline again is like getting a whole new bike... she CAN go slow, accelerates vigorously and can keep steady speed without stuttering...

Now I have a dilemma.
We have 2 bikes - Teresa, my BMW, and Ciliegia, which is shiNIN's Hyosung GV250.
Now she finally got her riding license and can ride Ciliegia on her own right. I'm happy about it, but I don't know how should I add Ciliegia to our garage... shiNIN's regged here and Ciliegia is her bike, but during the last 8000kms it was me who was driving (except her riding lessons).
If we add Ciliegia to shiNIN's 'garage', my numbers will distort her FE results (and vice versa).
If we halve the poor bike and add the first 8000km to my garage then our collection of kms will be split too :D
So I don't know what to do yet :confused:

Hi Alvaro84:

As long as you record her tanks, you are doing a service to everyone that watches the bikes FE figures! If you want to mix hers and yours, that is fine or begin a new bike just for her and she can see how she is doing vs. how you did.

In any case, thanks for the ride reports and detailed FE techniques. Bikes are just so much more fun than the cages, aren’t they ;)

Good Luck

Wayne

In any case, thanks for the ride reports and detailed FE techniques. Bikes are just so much more fun than the cages, aren’t they ;)


They certainly are (I don't have any cages though - maybe later, for really bad weather, and carrying more than 2 people and/or heavy things...) - and looking at your review logs I'm curious what kind of FE you could do with our bikes. Those numbers you made with the tested 250s are great (do you have posts/reviews where you go into the details of your techniques?), and it would be even greater to sustain them for at least tens of thousands of kms/miles (I'm really planning on going into the six digit domain, if the proper fuel will be available for a few more years)...

Now I got a much better tank.
We went on a few 2-bike rides in the vicinity on the top of my normal commute. Our distances are still shorter than my old commute, but we're riding easy and I P&G pretty much again, it can even make slow rides more fun (like it used to keep me awake on the freeway after night shifts).
So now I'm well under 3l/100km and over 80mpgUS again (2.84l/82.9mpgUS) :)

I'm working on my Forced DFCO + Switch Start technique on downhills that would need heavy braking otherwise. It seems that Teresa doesn't go DFCO that easy (at least not at low revs) so I need to use the killswitch. And bump starts are anything but smooth with her so it's good to start the engine while it's connected to the wheels. If I depress the clutch in the same time the engine starts smoothly and keeps running. I hope it doesn't hurt the catalytic converter more than a normal DFCO.

Next week it's time to get the bikes serviced, they're about to reach 50,000 and 15,000km respectively and Ciliegia needs new chain/sprockets (maybe taller gears for lower highway revs?) and a weatherproof topcase to replace those badly worn saddlebags...

This much more P&G came to fruition today - it was well over 400km when the reserve light came off, giving a 2.68l/100km average for this tank. What's more, it includes an oil change too, because yesterday she reached:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/motor/teresa-50k_598.jpg

Fantastic! :woot:

I had my usual cross-country trip (family and official matter again, more to come), 2-up with lugagge again (mountain roads and ~200km of freeway one way, mostly flat main road back, with some 4-lane stages and ~90km freeway again). I've already learned that cruising at ~100km/h (62mph) with some faster overtaking is OK with Teresa if I want to get there in a reasonable time with reasonable FE (last time I got 3.02l/100km (78mpgUS) when I took care of the freeway stage at this speed and a 3.25l/100km (72mpgUS) even with a much faster (120-130km/h) segment).

This time I've learned how much strong head/sidewind can deteriorate my FE (OK, I rode pretty much in strong wind in the past, but not this much at once). Last average is 3.54l/100km (66.6mpgUS).
Next one (including the way back) will be much better, I already know it can't be worse than 3.11l (~75.7mpgUS). Wind counts very much.

Note: I had to replace my lowbeam headlight in a freeway stop. I got the bulb with Teresa so it lasted somewhere between 29k and 67k kms.

edit. the final avg for this tank is 3.08l/100km (76.4 mpgUS) - much better than the previous one...

Hi Alvaro84:

You are doing spectacular on the BMW 650! The best I could get out of the 800 GS was an 80 mpg segment and the 1200’s were a lot lower with the 1200 GS’ best at just 61 mpgUS!

I hope you were following the 1200 GS and GS Adventure (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32999) thread. Harry is not much of a fuel efficient rider but he is a very safe one so that makes up for it ;)

Over the course of 1,600 miles, the GS Adventure pulled 47.2 mpgUS while the 1200 GS pulled 57.4 over the ~ same distance.

The Yamaha WR250X allowed 102.7 mpgUS over two tanks adn 433 miles. I am planning an across the US ride back to LA later this month to see if that can be held over the distance. More than likely, it will come in around 90 mpg once complete but I cannot complain for a very quick FI 250 with a top speed near 90 mph.

In any case, to see 80 and 90 + mpg tanks out of your 650 means you are doing very well and I would love to see you in action someday! If I ever get to Hungry, we’ll have to go for a ride :)

Good Luck

Wayne

In any case, to see 80 and 90 + mpg tanks out of your 650 means you are doing very well and I would love to see you in action someday! If I ever get to Hungry, we’ll have to go for a ride :)

I'm looking forward ;) For me you make the impression of a very experienced hypermiler, I'd probably learn something new :)

I don't really like to go with other riders, they usually either do too unreasonable things or I'll bother them with my generally slower pace (I try to keep my speed changes under control when I'm with company :D).
I've already met a few 'easy' riders whose style I can adapt pretty well and get good averages though :) P&G does the best when the pace is too slow even for shifting to 5th (under ~70km/h, 45mph). You can see another 90mpgUS tank in my log lately, that was full of coasting at sub-5th speeds :) It seems that large deltas are of a great benefit. I can get them as long as I'm faster than shiNIN if we're riding together :D

We just got back from Slovenia anyway. I think I'll write about it in the vacation forum, as soon as I get my thoughts together and create both the English and Hungarion versions. I may need a blog. Maybe not.
I had to combine the last 3 tanks in the log though, because
- I lost the fuel light again and only repaired it after we reached Bled
- I filled Teresa whenever Ciliegia needed a refill and the smaller bike does somewhat worse at the superslab (while in clever city driving it most probably shines and they're even at lower highway speeds).

I've entered all the data I have into Ciliegia's log the last night.
I hope I did not make (m)any mistake(s)...
I've modified my sig too too - just keep in mind that Ciliegia is ridden by shiNIN lately (and was ridden by her before too, when learning) :)

So a picture of both:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/motor/ketten.jpg

We removed the flimsy crashbars (once they damaged the tank!) and the saddlebags (they could not stand the everchanging weather) and got a GIVI topcase since then. Now we have 2 topcases of the same system, it was really convenient when I bought the new one...

edit. no "EPA" data for Ciliegia as I don't have the faintest idea if an official guess for FE of Hyosung motorcycles does even exist :confused: In the case of Teresa they're still not City/Hwy numbers, but they're two official numbers at least :D

An up again for my topic... I finally got myself to equip the windshield adjusting brackets on Teresa and try to estimate how it affects my glides. I feel aero a bit worse now, but I can't say for sure because it's variably windy today, sidewind and maybe some tailwind. Plus my main 'coast testing' downhill road is protected by trees and I did not see the leaves move anywhere. I'll test it some more. For now my speed fell a bit more quickly than usual there.
(On a sidenote: I'm may be a bit biased here by the fact that I got a HUGE gap under the windshield after rising it by the adjuster brackets)

I filled up this afternoon without spilling it, 14.66l :D the tripmeter showed 554.4km now, just 2.2km shorter than my longest tank (2.64l/100km, somewhat worse than 127km ago - back then it was 2.6l/100km, slightly over 90mpgUS. Weather cooled down by at least 10C degrees since then, it may be able to cause such difference if nothing else changes).

And now I absolutely HAVE TO get a new battery for Ciliegia. It's been weak for a while, but today the two of us couldn't start it no matter how hard we tried :( Next morning I stay in the town and get one (and a charger) when I wake up. So still no info about the last tank :o

I save this post here from the actual week topic of Daily Grind...

Had a hard ride on our family visit to the East. The route was ~400km there and ~350km back. The first tank that contained 1-up commute too became 3.19l/100km for 398.6km; the second one that entirely consists of 2-up, mostly main roads and freeways became 3.41l/100km for 402.8km. This time I wasn't fast at all and handled the throttle with extreme care. Not like I had an egg under it (which can be hardly interpreted in the case of motorcycles) but like it was an egg itself... apparently it doesn't help at all compared to a brisker, more P&G'y style. And the story:

I may told you before that the rear drive belt sprocket became quite worn and I ordered the part from ebay to replace it. It was in... early September? Now, either the Customs Office is sitting on it or a kind postman stole it, but I still haven't got it. According to the USPS it arrived to Hungary on the 16th of September...

It did not cause any real problems - so far. OK, it looked worn, but that's all. But on Friday, it lost a tooth. Better, 4 teeth. We kept an eye on it, praying to get home, and we did. In the meantime we met the worst road we've ever seen (once it was 1.5m wide and muddy then it became wider but consisted mostly of potholes - and it had a dividing line when it was visible! It was a real bad joke...), then arrived to our destination. With a few more tooth loss. The loss culminated at 20 teeth, in the Eastern leg of the M3 motorway, it means that almost 1/4 of the drive belt was missing. In one, massive piece... it seemed that we won't make it home.

But... you know...

Sometimes praying to pagan deities does really work. Teresa (the goddess of love that gave the name to the Claymore warrior my bike was named after) loved us and Kanako took care of the weather, she even sent us trucks to protect us from the wind when I had to accelerate or climb hills :D

So...

You know you're a Touhou fan
- When you pray to Kanako

- ...and it works.


:D :D :D

We got home with a defect of the same 20 teeth. Now I won't ride Teresa anywhere but call a trailer when I get a (the?) sprocket...

And the pictures..

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/motor/worn1.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/motor/075-480.jpg

Good news, Teresa is back :)

She's over a xenotransplantation and feels OK. Beside the belt sprocket she got a salvaged Kawasaki ZR250 front rim and brake disc (our mechanic said that the latter is a very common type for many Kawasaki models so it's easy and cheap to get - at least it costed ~ one fifth of a new BMW front disc).

The rim is similar in style to the original one, but this one has a darker finish - doesn't look bad on her, IMHO:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/motor/felni.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/motor/teresa-kawa.jpg

And on the way back home we reached 66666km by the odo (somewhere over 82000 irl) - I know that there's another topic for shots like this, I'll find it:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/motor/66666-640.jpg

(And a Claymore insider joke: Now she has something in common with FrankenClaire - she's got a part of Flash Cylinder Irene :D (yes, this is what I'd probably call a ZR250 if I had one - they're 250cc inline fours with insane redline revs like 20k rpm :eek:))

I think i update my topic with this observation about the new tires equipped at 70457km (by odo):

Now the tripmeter (and probably odo) is more off than anytime before.
Different takes on my short commute route:

Ciliegia: 24.9-25.0km
Google maps: 24.8km
Teresa+Metzeler Z6: 24.6km
Teresa+Heidenau K73: 24.4km

And I think it'll be a bit more again when I wear out these tires.
I'm really thinking about some correction to prevent it skewing my mileage log
Any suggestions? How can I tell which is the correct one without a GPS?
(I've already compared Teresa's tripmeter with km signs along a freeway - it measured about 1-1.5% less with the Z6s last summer&fall. It means that now it's even more off...)

One more note: I'm thinking about making something like a bumper sticker, not to be seen while riding, just to show my dedication to efficiency. I have a concept and I plan to realize it with shiNIN's help (because I can't draw). It'll be, well, ****ed up :D For real.

I copy some more observation here (may be useful later): traction in rain is great with these tires. Still, I can't forget that they seem to worsen FE by a few MPG . And that the rear already looks a bit worn, it won't last 28000km by far, like my Z6 set did (now this set has ~5100km on it). In ideal case at least the front can last for 2 rears, so they don't get totally out of sync when I replace the whole set to something else - but I'm not sure it'll happen. I hate to throw away things that aren't totally worn off, but I'll may have to

Anyway, I've already set my eyes upon the Michelin Pilot Road 3. Those 2-component tires should be at least as durable as my Z6s were, as I deduced from the tests with stronger and heavier bikes - and they're praised for their traction too.